Adam Gault Thursday’s first-quarter GDP report delivered a one-two punch for markets: slower-than-expected growth and hotter-than-expected inflation. In reaction, stocks fell and US Treasury yields rose. At first glance, the risk-off response looks reasonable. But a closer look at the GDP numbers still leaves room for debate. Let’s start with the offending data that sent…
Eoneren By James Knightley US inflation remains hot, but not as hot as feared So the core PCE deflator has indeed come in at 0.3% month-on-month, with upward revisions to January and February, rather than the 0.48% MoM implied by the quarterly PCE deflator from yesterday, assuming no revisions. In the great scheme of things,…
Jonathan Kitchen Stock markets are finally making a dip in April and it could present a good opportunity to buy the sectors and stocks previously thought to be too stretched or expensive. AI is an obvious sector to target as it is a recent “megatrend” and delivered huge gains through stocks like Nvidia (NVDA). However,…
pcess609/iStock via Getty Images The Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), has just released its estimate for February 2024 US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE). Also known as “Personal Spending,” PCE directly accounts for over 60% of total US Gross Domestic Product (GDP), marking it a crucial indicator for assessing changing rates of expansion, contraction, and momentum…
DKosig We always arrive at work on an Inflation Day with a certain amount of uncertainty hovering over us. When the CPI or the PCE report – the two main indicators of US consumer price trends – comes out at 8:30 a.m. it has the potential to sharply shift market sentiment away from whatever direction…
Dragon Claws Don’t jump to conclusions based on one month’s number. The Final Demand version of the Producer Price Index rose 0.6% in February, and that was twice the amount the market expected to see. A Bloomberg headline on Thursday morning said, “Bond Yields Jump as Hot Inflation Curbs Fed Wagers.” Worse still, the full…
PhonlamaiPhoto Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI), a supplier of metrology and process control tools for the semiconductor market, has paused in recent days, but that does not take away from the fact that NVMI has doubled in value in about four months, and by even more if one goes back further in time. However, while the rally is…
Yaroslav Litun/iStock via Getty Images When the recently listed Ispire Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:ISPR) announced its latest quarterly results on Feb. 20, investors were underwhelmed by its story of the vaping market’s big potential. The stock fell by nearly 10% over the next few days despite a 31% revenue increase to $41.7 million for the three…
Just_Super By Christopher Gannatti, CFA Investing is funny. If an investor posed the question, what was the best-performing exchange-traded Fund at WisdomTree during 2023, the answer would be the WisdomTree Cybersecurity Fund (WCBR), which returned 66.40% in NAV total return terms.1 Current performance is historical and does not guarantee future results. Current performance may be…
Vertigo3d/E+ via Getty Images Too much ice, not enough electricity. For others, brutal cold. Weather extremes were only one facet of such an “interesting” week. Much to Beijing’s chagrin, Taiwan’s DPP party won a third term, with a gutsy, independent-minded new President taking charge. Story to continue… The Houthis scoff at U.S. strikes and threats,…
Mario Tama/Getty Images News December CPI Report The December CPI came in slightly hot on Thursday morning. The annual consumer price index rose 3.4% on an annual basis. Economists expected 3.2%. The index increased 0.3% in December compared to an expected monthly increase of 0.2%. The hotter-than-expected number probably reduces the chances for a Fed…
RHJ Cameco (NYSE:CCJ) is a solid play on the improving uranium and nuclear market, although the stock is pretty pricey by historical standards. Company Profile CCJ is a uranium miner and nuclear service provider. The company owns stakes in three tier 1 uranium mines, as well as in several tier 2 and emerging mines. Its…
2024 could be a slower year for the business landscape in the US economy, however, many economists are positive that the US recession could be thwarted with a soft landing. Bulls made a strong comeback this year in 2023, and as the year ends, the Fed has given major signals of interest rate cuts in…
bjdlzx HighPeak Energy (NASDAQ:HPK) got itself in a tight corner by waiting until the last minute to refinance its debt while retiring a troublesome covenant. Fortunately, management had the resources to be able to take care of the situation. Going forward, management may have learned something about the current debt market that should prevent a…
jetcityimage Research Note Summary On the heels of my recent research note covering Pizza Hut’s parent company Yum Brands (YUM), I am sticking my head in the pizza oven again with today’s rating of its competitor in the quick-serve restaurant sector, and a household name in the US for decades, Domino’s Pizza (NYSE:DPZ). Besides the…
andresr/E+ via Getty Images The September CPI report revealed a hotter-than-expected 0.4% rise in monthly consumer prices compared to the +0.3% consensus. The Core rate rose 0.3% last month, matching estimates. The year-on-year headline rate was unchanged at +3.7%, one-tenth to the warm side versus expectations while Core CPI rose 4.1% from a year ago,…
DjordjeDjurdjevic We forget that Mr. Market is an ingenious sadist, and that he delights in torturing us in different ways. -Barton Biggs. There are a lot of angry bears today. I get it. Frankly, I’ve been in their position many times. You are positioned for a data release. The data came out, and your call…
eternalcreative/iStock via Getty Images Academic research has long-ago identified the size effect: A tendency of firms with small market capitalizations to outperform those will higher market capitalizations over time. An early paper that made this point is Banz (1981) and the idea was popularized in the academic and practitioner factor literatures by the Fama-French 3-factor…
piyaset/iStock via Getty Images Today, bond yields rose and the stock market swooned, as the market was apparently spooked by some stronger-than-expected statistics coupled with the Atlanta Fed’s GDP Now forecast of 5% growth in the current quarter. The fear is that the economy is “running hot” and that will prod the Fed to keep…
pixdeluxe It may sound weird to someone but technology looks like an island of safety so far in 2023. The rapid development of AI initiated a new technology cycle, which brought iShares U.S. Technology ETF (NYSEARCA:IYW) up by 40% since the beginning of the year and showed how much investment and interest innovation can attract….
ScottOrr Thesis The stock price of Ero Copper Corp. (NYSE:ERO) has risen 130% since I rated it a buy almost eleven months ago. Last September, Ero was trading at a mere 5.3x earnings, twice below the sector median, despite plans to more than double copper output by 2025, while bringing cash costs down by about…
imaginima I’ve been a pretty big bull on electrification as a secular growth story, but even then I underestimated just how much strength Hubbell (NYSE:HUBB) was going to see (particularly in its transmission and distribution, or T&D, business) and how eagerly the Street would bid up the shares in response. Even with a recent correction,…